World News - Authorities Say Fertilizer Theft Led to Leak of Ammonia, N.D. Town Alerted

Thieves likely trying to steal liquid fertilizer to make methamphetamine broke a storage tank valve, releasing a dangerous plume of ammonia gas, police said. The cloud hovered for several hours Sunday before dissipating. No arrests had been made, police said. The leak of about 300 gallons of anhydrous ammonia was reported early Sunday by a man driving to work who saw the white plume of gas hugging the ground, Police Chief Jeannette Persons said. An alert was broadcast on local radio telling residents of the southeastern North Dakota town to seal their doors and windows to prevent exposure to the gas. "It was a big white cloud," Persons said. "It burns your throat, your lungs, your eyes." ... http://abcnews.go.com

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived here Monday to encourage U.S. allies to bolster cooperation with Iraq's fledgling government and counter Iran's growing influence in the region.Gates' Middle East trip comes as more American troops struggle to secure Baghdad. Meanwhile, Congress and the Bush administration continue to battle over an emergency spending bill that would help pay for escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq.Enlisting the help of Iraq's neighbors, including Jordan, will lend the government of Nouri al-Maliki more legitimacy. Gates also plans to visit Egypt and Israel.Jordan has absorbed as many hundreds of thousands of refugees from Iraq, its eastern neighbor. Its military also operates a hospital in Iraq....http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-16-gates-mideast_N.htm?csp=34

Two Swedish construction workers who had been convicted of espionage and imprisoned in Iran for taking photographs of military installations were released Monday after being pardoned, a Swedish lawmaker in Tehran said. The men, Stefan Johansson and Jari Hjortmar, were handed over to Swedish diplomats and lawmakers at Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday night, lawmaker Urban Ahlin told The Associated Press by phone after leaving with the two. "Everything went according to plans," said Ahlin, the deputy chairman of the Swedish parliament's foreign affairs committee. "We are very happy and satisfied." Iranian Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad said last May that the two had been convicted of photographing military installations and sentenced to three years in prison apiece. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said earlier Monday that the sentence had been only two years. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3045470

Powerful spring storms battering the eastern US have claimed at least eight lives and caused widespread flooding and damage to property. A state of emergency has been declared in West Virginia and New Jersey, while 3,200 National Guards were deployed in the worst-hit areas of New York. High winds and up to 46cm (18in) of snow closed some airports and forced hundreds more flights to be cancelled. The storm is thought to be the worst of its kind since December 1992. One person died when one of three tornadoes to hit South Carolina destroyed dozens of mobile homes. Two other people died in car accidents in New York and Connecticut, and five more are believed to have been killed by storms in Texas and Kansas on Friday. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560061.stm

An elderly Austrian woman required hospital treatment after being attacked by what was described as a 'crazed hare.' Police were forced to shoot the rampaging beast before it could hurt anybody else. Traditionally, rabbits and hares are better known as lovers, not fighters. On Monday, however, a hare in Linz, Austria broke the mold, attacking an elderly woman and her husband, not to mention the police officers who were called to the scene. In a scene eerily reminiscent of the attack of the "most foul, cruel, and bad tempered" rabbit in the cult movie "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail," the Linz hare assaulted a 74-year-old woman who was hanging laundry in her garden early Monday morning. The animal, described as a "crazed hare" in a statement by Linz police department, bit the woman's foot, causing her to fall. The unidentified woman, still under attack by the rampant hare, was eventually able to escape into her home, where ...http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,477537,00.html

Hundreds of residents were out of their homes Monday because of the threat that an unstable earth dam could collapse. Crews worked to pump thousands of gallons of water from the private lake formed by the dam. "There is still a chance the dam could burst until we get the pressure off the wall," said Hamlin Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joe Vincent. Mayor Brian Barrett said if the dam breaks, it could send millions of gallons of water into the Lincoln County community. The dam is on a tributary of the Mud River, which flows through the town. "We're being told it could be eight or nine feet of water," Barrett told the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3045353